I have little to no lag when I play my Wii online, yet other Wii owners and haters alike say they have nothing but unplayable lag. I think the problem is in inconsistency. Someone on this site explained that the Wii uses P2P connections for online Nintendo games. IF this is true, then it is other people's connections that are bad (assuming yours is good). If Nintendo has set up servers, then I think they really need to upgrade them to make them more consistent throughout the world. If they don't have servers then they should implement them as soon as possible.

I think the Wii isn't failing online. It just is not that great and whenever online works, people discredit it as last gen and they try to make it look last gen, which is a bit unfair.

Yes, random matches with no communication is a pain and it makes you feel like you are playing smart and unpredictable CPU's, but at least the mechanism is there and they could upgrade it if enough people complained and got through to them. If you do have a ton of friends on you list, then WFC gaming is much better, but still limiting in some regards.

You could also take another approach and actually be patient and content to cope with your current situation and enjoy life. Its just a suggestion, though.....

At times online brawl matches are completely unplayable, other times they run just as well as if you were sitting right next to the person.

Alot of the other issues brought up in this article bring down the whole experience though.

It is anonymous to a fault. You have no way of talking to anyone or even using a handle... might as well be playing the CPU in that regard.

Nintendo is obviously paranoid about online exploitation and problems that could arise with connecting 2 strangers together, but it is taken to such an extreme that online gaming for them is in the stone ages (well in the online gaming stone ages).

As I said in a post for a different story, I do encounter laggy games on occasion playing Brawl and Mario Strikers online but most of the time it's smooth-sailing. I do find it hard to believe that sometimes the server can't find 3 other ppl for me to Brawl against and just inserts a CPU character, but it's not a big deal for me at the moment.

Nintendo connects P2P.. and unlike all those SHOOTERS on the 360 for a fighting game everyone needs a good connection for it to work.. if someone lags in a shooter they pretty much freeze in 1 spot and look like they teleport around.. with a fighter u can't do that because it syncs the WIIs so everyone has a fair chance..

u can't blame Nintendo for people's crap connections..

Hell play TEKKEN online.. SAME DAMN THING HAPPENS..

but of course this is NINTENDO'S FAULT..

heres what i think..

Nintendo made an awsome game and gave us ONLINE as an added bonus.. The people with connections problems and lag usually play shooters and don't expect it.. and since they are tech savvy they have to open their loud mouths cause they like their 360 better anyways and its NINTENDO'S FAULT for the bad online.. or some people try it at a friend's house and it happens to be laggy the 1 match.. so they turn it down..

if you ever play 1 game where you don't see any lag online PLEASE TELL ME.. cause i would love to see this game..

So if u don't like SMASH BROS online then play offline.. nobody has a gun to your head and is making you play it.. And shut up already about "NINTENDO ONLINE SUCKS" its not LIVE but stop blaming nintendo for your crap connections.. (or other's crap connections)